'Fall' last of author's heroic efforts

TROY: Fall of Kings. By David Gemmell and Stella Gemmell. Ballantine. 450 pages. $25.95.

The heroes in Homer's "Iliad" are judged by their deeds rather than their feelings in a years-long battle fought by nigh-invulnerable warriors. So what happens when David Gemmell, the fantasy author who specializes in making his characters emotionally vulnerable, tackles the fall of Troy?

We get an entertaining book that features self-doubting leaders, alcoholic kings, swordsmen with aching shoulders and priestesses trapped in love triangles.

"Troy: Fall of Kings" is the third in a trilogy of Trojan books, the other two being "Lord of the Silver Bow" and "Shield of Thunder." Gemmell's storytelling skills are as compelling as ever, with intense action scenes balanced with believable character development. We follow the main players in the Trojan War — Achilles, Odysseus, Agamemnon, Hector and their allies — as the city is besieged. There's a pleasurable attention to detail, as the book builds the sense of the city's crumbling infrastructure.

"Troy" also is tinged with fatalism as the central Trojan characters meet their doom defending their loved ones. Sadly, it also marks the death of Gemmell, himself a king of the heroic fantasy narrative. The book was completed by his wife, Stella, who co-wrote all of the Troy books. Her cooperation enabled him to go out the way he likely would have wanted, writing about fighting.